May 15, 2013
Six St. Olaf College students have been named Fulbright fellows for 2013-14. Three of the students will use their Fulbright awards to conduct research on topics ranging from social activism to cochlear implant use. The other three students will take on English teaching assistantships.

April 22, 2013
Love Odetola ’14 (right) will use a $10,000 Davis Projects for Peace grant to develop a public health initiative in Senegal, while Duy Ha ’14 will use it to create an interactive educational experience about environmental issues in Vietnam. Two St. Olaf College students have each received a grant from the Davis Projects for Peace initiative to establish grassroots projects abroad. Love Odetola ’14 will use the $10,000 grant to develop a public health initiative in Senegal, while Duy Ha ’14 will use it to create an interactive educational exp. about env. issues in Vietnam.

April 19, 2013
Cheryl Philip ’10 (left), a philanthropic associate at Lutheran World Relief, talks to St. Olaf students at the Quo Vadis Sophomore Retreat. At the third annual Quo Vadis Sophomore Retreat, 100 St. Olaf College students took a weekend to reflect on their sense of purpose and vocation. The retreat, which is offered through the Piper Center for Vocation and Career, provides second-year students with an opportunity to think intentionally about their values and interests as they begin to connect their work in college with future plans.

April 5, 2013
Zoey Slater '14 places her hand on the small Bible that President Barack Obama used at his public inauguration in January, more than 150 years after Abraham Lincoln put his hand on the same Bible and swore to uphold the Constitution. Slater and other students on St. Olaf College's Connections Program got an up-close look at a number of artifacts thanks to Mark Dimunation '74, chief of the Rare Book and Special Collections Division at the Library of Congress.

April 2, 2013
Although Caryn McKinney ’13 has researched coral reefs in Bonaire and traveled to Peru as a medic with Engineers Without Borders (where this photo was taken), it was her internship experience with the International Energy Agency in France that has cemented her career path. After her first year at St. Olaf College, Caryn McKinney ’13 spent the summer studying coral reefs near the Caribbean island of Bonaire. The summer after that, she traveled to Peru as a medic with the Engineers Without Borders program.

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March 20, 2013
For the past four years Mackenzie Wolter ’13, Eileen O’Donoghue ’13, and Meredith Couture ’13 have spent countless hours working together as part of the St. Olaf College women’s basketball team. And they’ll continue working together after they graduate this spring. All three received full-time job offers from Target Corporation, where they interned last summer.

March 12, 2013
Katie Lauer ’13 landed an internship at Art in America magazine thanks to a connection she made during a St. Olaf College program in New York. She signed up for a St. Olaf College networking program in New York City to make connections for the future. Little did she know that the future was going to start almost immediately. While on the Piper Center for Vocation and Career’s New York Connections Program, Lauer met Sarah Butler ’06. A staff member at Art in America magazine, Butler encouraged Lauer to pursue her interests in studio art and media studies.

March 6, 2013
The Corporation for National and Community Service has honored St. Olaf College with a place on the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll for exemplary service efforts. This is the college’s fifth year on the list, and is a testament to the 59,000 hours of service that St. Olaf students have contributed to community development in the past year.

February 22, 2013
This Interim five St. Olaf College students took on a unique and challenging task: to design and build an educational trail promoting ecotourism in rural Costa Rica. The team — which included Andy Catania ’13, Reed Deardorff ’13, Ellen Hawley ’13, Daniel Malecha ’13, and Justine Dammermann ’14 — spent a month working at La Anita Rainforest Ranch in Alajuela, Costa Rica, an experience that enabled them to earn academic credit while getting their hands dirty (literally) in the process.

February 21, 2013
While most students spent the first week in February preparing for the spring semester, a group of 10 St. Olaf College students spent their time in Houston preparing for life after college. The trip was part of the Piper Center for Vocation and Career’s Connections Program, which enables students to explore careers and network with alumni in cities across the country. The program in Houston focused specifically on opportunities in the technology, energy, engineering, and biomedical industries.

The Harry C. Piper Center for Vocation and Career Naming Ceremony
September 6, 2012
All were welcome to attend The Harry C. Piper Center for Vocation and Career naming ceremony which took place immediatly following Opening Convocation. President David Anderson ’74, Branden Grimmett ’03, founding Director of the Piper Center and St. Olaf Board of Regents Chair Addison "Tad" Piper shared remarks about the new center and their goal to serve all students as they discern their future career goals.

Linking liberal arts and business
September 6, 2012
As a student at St. Olaf College, Bobby Hunter '08 received an education that prepared him well for a career in finance — and support from alumni eager to help him network. Now he's using his position at UnitedHealth Group to recruit and hire new employees like Michael Rahman '12.

September 5, 2012
On Thursday, Sept. 13, St. Olaf College will be hosting its fifth annual Northfield Connect event. The event is an opportunity for St. Olaf students to meet with Northfield area businesses, non-profits and other organizations to learn about opportunities to get involved in the community.

Seniors: we want to know what you are doing after graduation! If you need to make any changes to your Gradfest survey submission, please click on the above link. Note that you will be asked to enter your contact information again.

$2.575 million gift names and endows the Harry C. Piper Center for Vocation and Career
July 9, 2012
The family of St. Olaf Board of Regents Chair Addison "Tad" Piper has given St. Olaf College $2,575,000 to establish and support the Harry C. Piper Center for Vocation and Career, the successor to the college's Center for Experiential Learning.

Years of guiding young entrepreneurs
July 5, 2012
This summer the St. Olaf College Estenson Internship Program, founded by brothers-in-law Mark Johnson '82 and Paul Estenson '80, marks 15 years of connecting students with alumni in the Twin Cities and giving them, as Johnson (at left) says, "a 'laboratory' to explore their entrepreneurial impulses through paid internships."

Campus leaders honored for civic engagement
June 13, 2012
Minnesota Campus Compact recently honored St. Olaf student James Daly '13 and Associate Professor of Asian Studies and Political Science Katherine Tegtmeyer Pak for their efforts to connect the classroom and the community.

Alumnus named director of Center for Vocation and Career
June 12, 2012
Branden Grimmett '03 has been named the director of St. Olaf's newly established Center for Vocation and Career, the successor to the college's Center for Experiential Learning.

Full Circle Mentorship for Policy's Chief Operating Officer
May 25, 2012
A recent beyond-the-cubicle event at the Pentagon provided a rare opportunity to glean from the new chief operating
officer in the Office of the Under Secretary of Defense for Policy (OUSDP). Pushing the performance envelope in
leadership's mentoring and interactions with America's youth, COO Anthony Aldwell provided insightful career guidance to students interested in public service.

The law of connections
April 13, 2012
Looking to explore a career in law, Will Raun '14 sent an email to several alumni he met at last year's Ole Law event — and ended up with seven job-shadowing experiences and an internship this summer. "I don't think anyone can appreciate how much alumni are willing to help students until you experience it," he says.

Student honored by Anne Frank Center for work in Nepal
April 9, 2012
The Anne Frank Center in New York recently selected Sudip Bhandari '14 as this year's recipient of its Outstanding Educator Award. The honor is part of the 16th Annual Spirit of Anne Frank Awards, and it is the first time the center has given the award to an undergraduate. The award recognizes pioneers in educational programs that enable students to embody tolerance and embrace traditionally excluded groups.

From panic to praise: Learning the value of networking
January 18, 2012
In the first weeks of last year's Career Network for Oles, Caleb Harrison '12 feared the worst — that no one would respond to his profile. "I was panicking. My peers were receiving responses from parents and alumni and I had yet to hear a thing," Harrison says. He was amongst one of the 300 Oles who participated in the program last year.

In his first year at St. Olaf, Tim Knutson '12 decided to study Chinese — in part because he thought knowledge of the language would open up career opportunities. His forward thinking paid off. Knutson's experience with the language and studies last spring in China him helped him land a job this fall at one of Minnesota's Fortune 100 companies.

An unconventional path to the corporate world
December 20, 2011
Lizzie Gelle '12 parlayed her volunteer experience and diverse course work at St. Olaf into a job offer from Best Buy Corporation six months before graduation.

While St. Olaf seniors — and identical twins — Kari and Esti Zimmerman interned with different companies this summer, they both came away from the experience having reached the same conclusion: a career in the corporate world could very well be in their future.

Bringing the lessons of the Holocaust to Nepal
September 20, 2011
Sudip Bhandari '14 set out this summer to educate youth in his native Nepal about the lessons of World War II — not an easy task in a country where many high school textbooks leave out any reference to the Holocaust or figures such as Anne Frank.

The Leaders for Social Change Summer Internship Program expanded this year, adding a St. Paul house and enabling 17 St. Olaf students to work with a variety of nonprofits.

Interns that eat together, learn together
August 6-7, 2011
On their second day as housemates, the 10 St. Olaf students sat down and discussed food. But not just food, says senior Eric Klein, they talked about the carnivorous tendencies of some and the vegetarian sensibilities of others. They talked about grocery shopping, meal planning and preparation and how every member of the house could respect each other’s needs and wants.

June, 2011
Teams of four undergraduate students with backgrounds in science and economics work under the leadership of a business graduate student to analyze the feasibility of potential new products or therapies submitted by Mayo Clinic scientists and physicians. 

With the support of a grant from the St. Olaf Center for Experiential Learning, four students launched a successful virtual-tours company that they hope will last long past graduation day.

Keeping the story alive
April 19, 2011
There are times when silence is the loudest voice. But there are also times when it isn't. Mara Kumagai Fink '11 has discovered that some stories simply must be told. Fink's grandmother was one of more than 120,000 Japanese Americans that the U.S. government placed in 10 internment camps across the West coast during World War II. In the wake of Japan's attack on Pearl Harbor, Japanese Americans were seen by the government as potential threats to national security and forced into "War Relocation Camps" throughout the western half of the country.

April 18, 2011
The Be a Changemaker Challenge offers an online learning platform, staff support, and mentorship as teams of college students develop and pitch a social venture plan.  Teams received start-up funding of up to $1,000. 

An opportunity for discernment in D.C.
April 15, 2011
An "externship" in the nation's capital earlier this year prompted 10 St. Olaf students to think about far more than career paths. "I learned a lot about not only what I want to do when I graduate, but also about how I see myself being involved in this global community," says Leon Clark '12.

'Where are you going?'
March 30, 2011
The Quo Vadis Sophomore Retreat offers sophomores a chance to step away from campus to reflect on where you have been, where you are, and where you are going within a supportive mentoring community.

Students 'psyched' for community action
February 21, 2011
Psychology Dana Gross created a new course she calls Community Applications of Psychology. It was made possible with the help of the Bringing Theory to Practice grant project created by Nate Jacobi, associate director of civic engagement.

A global internship in Ghana
February 3, 2011
Liz Lampman '11 spent this Interim working for Global Mamas, a nonprofit organization in Ghana that promotes women's economic independence and fair trade. She shares what life there was like and what she found most rewarding about the work.

A $10,000 grant from the Target Foundation will enable St. Olaf students to travel to the nation’s capital to connect with alumni, shadow entrepreneurs, meet with political leaders, and visit organizations that are taking new approaches to addressing social problems.

Simple question leads to big internship
January 30, 2011
Bethany Olson ‘11 is proof that internships don’t always begin with a polished resume or three-piece suit. Sometimes they start with a simple question. Bethany stumbled on Mobile Baykeeper is a nonprofit organization committed to protecting Alabama’s Mobile Bay watershed.

Food and Nutrition Service-learning Collaborative Grant Project
St. Olaf, Carleton and three community partners received a $25,000 grant to involve over 120 students from St. Olaf and Carleton in service-learning activities that will increase healthy eating among K-12 students and other community members during 2011. 

The Ole Connection
St. Olaf Magazine - Winter 2011
Alumni and students reflect on what their connection to the Career Network for Oles program has meant to them and, for our newest alumni, how it has eased their transition into life after St. Olaf.

Media Minded
St. Olaf Magazine - Winter 2011
Andrew Foxwell ’08 has transitioned the entrepreneurial skills he developed at St. Olaf to power up a venture for iConstituent in Washington, D.C., further blending his passions for technology and politics.

Wednesday, December 15, 2010
Internships are a wonderful idea: not only do they add credibility to your resume, but they give you real-world experience that can either introduce you to your dream job (and future connections) or show you exactly what field of work you'll never want to try again.

Campus leaders honored for civic engagement, partnerships
June 18, 2010
A faculty member who routinely integrates civic engagement projects into his courses. A student who has worked tirelessly to bring education and opportunity to a remote village in Nepal. A local nonprofit organization that enables students to serve low-income residents.

Students embark on summer of research, service
June 2, 2010
Two academic scholarships will enable four St. Olaf students to spend their summer working on projects that range from interviewing members of the Khmer Kraom community in Cambodia to furthering hunger awareness and sustainability programs in churches across Minnesota.

May 25, 2010
A Minnesota Public Radio story that looks at how St. Olaf students are turning to alumni for career assistance and advice focuses on music major Ana Ashby '10 and her success with the Career Network for Oles.

For many St. Olaf students, the coming of spring means tuning up their bikes after spending the winter in drifts, and riding them all over campus. But what's different today is that a number of students are riding bright green bicycles from the new Green Bikes program that aims to promote fitness and decrease car use while providing transportation for students.

Live and Learn
St. Olaf Magazine - Winter 2011
The Center for Experiential Learning helps students find their strengths, passions, and livelihoods.

Grant targets Oles seeking pre-law experience
December 15, 2009
A $10,000 grant from the Target Foundation will provide the opportunity for four to six students to conduct research on social justice issues at law schools this summer.

Record Label Caters to Campus Bands
November 13, 2009
Few college juniors can claim to put CEO or CFO on their resume, or claim to run an incorporated record label. The resumes of Kai Hansen ’11 and Joe Erickson ’11 are likely to dazzle future employers, as they started Checkdown Records, LLC, a record label for St. Olaf campus bands.

Phillips Scholar designs program for Northfield youth
November 10, 2009 — Jennifer Kramm '10 used a Phillips scholarship to design a program for at-risk local students. “The most important thing I’ve learned is that this type of work has to be something that comes out of the community, not something I decide the community needs,” she says.